I had a higher-end listing that we put on the market in 2005, and we got a contract pretty quickly quickly (not right away - maybe three months).  The buyers asked if they could move in a week or so before the closing, because they have seven kids and they were staying at a local hotel which was costing an arm and a leg.  Although we were all a bit skeptical and wary of letting them move in early, we decided to allow it, but we put in a rather punitive amount for the "holdover" period.  In other...

The Austin Business Journal reported today that Austin, Texas tops the nation for business this year.  Austin placed first out of a field of over 400 metro areas tracked:

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2007/08/06/daily6.html?f=et51&ana=e_du 

For years, we have seen wave after wave of investment activity in the Austin Texas real estate market.  However, even though prices have increased somewhat consistently (2001 was an exception, 2002-04 were relatively flat), the prices here in Austin...

Well, we had a great time at the training camp yesterday, although they bumped the practice time back by an hour, so we had a lot of extra time to kill before they even opened the doors. 

There were more fans on the sidelines than I had expected (maybe 200 or so), but we were still RIGHT THERE on top of the action.  I met Roy Williams and got his autograph, which made the whole day worth it, since he is my current favorite player.  He was very gracious and he spent probably 30-45 minutes signing...

Back in 1997, which was my first year in the business, my partner and I used to dress up more often, since we were both in our 20's and wanted to look more professional and, at least we thought, more experienced.  Once, we had a listing that was a difficult sale -it had gone through two or three previous listing agents, and my very first clients referred the sellers to me.

The home was in a somewhat rough area of town, and the area really hasn't changed much for the better since then.  We finally...

1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college. 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years. 57 percent of new books are not read to completion. 70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance. 70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.(Source: Jerold Jenkins, http://w...

I am highly excited, because a friend of my nephew's got me two sideline passes to the Dallas Cowboys training camp at the Alamodome in San Antonio.  I am going with one of my good friends tomorrow (wife is not interested, son is too young to tolerate it for four hours).  We are planning to get there by 1:30 when the doors open.  The practice runs from 2:30 to 4:30, and apparently right after practice is the best time to get autographs and mingle with the players and coaches. 

Having never had si...

I attended a closing a few days ago at an attorney's office (less frequent here in Austin, as we usually close at title companies).  This particular guy has always been very good at explaining the closing process to the buyers and sellers, yet he is also quick.  At any rate, he was telling my buyers that the best method for sending extra payments to the bank/mortgage company was to divide one payment by 12, then send 1/12 each month applied to principal.  He said that this would remove four extr...